“Sealed with the Spirit”(Ephesians 1:13-14)I. Introduction.A. Orientation.1. This morning, we’re continuing our study on communion with God.a. It was sparked by our beginning weekly communion, wanting better tounderstand the blessing we have here.(i) That at the Table, we have communion with Christ – not physically, butspiritually.(ii) He communicates the blessings He purchased for us through the Spirit.b. As we delved deeper into this subject, we saw that all three members areinvolved in this communion.(i) The Father in loving us and providing His Son for us.(ii) The Son in His work of redemption, removing the things that stood in theway of the Father’s love – our sin and lack of righteousness.(iii) And the Spirit in applying Christ’s work to us and creating throughHimself the bond of love between the Father, the Son and us.2. We’re now considering what the Spirit does.a. How He reminds us of God’s promises.b. How He assures us of God’s love.c. How He shows us that we are God’s children.d. How He does these things powerfully and sovereignly.e. And all of these things that He might do what Jesus sent Him to do: comfortus.B. Preview.1. The next blessing of this communion with the Spirit we’ll consider is Hissealing us: “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospelof your salvation – having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the HolySpirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to theredemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:13-14).2. Let’s consider two things:a. First, what this sealing of the Spirit is.b. Second, why God seals us.II. Sermon.A. First, what is the sealing of the Spirit?1. We know, first, this sealing is an act of the Holy Spirit.a. It’s another work He does on behalf of Christ.b. It’s another application of what Jesus lived and died to give us.

2c. He receives from Christ and gives to us, to draw attention to Christ – let’smake sure we recognize where this blessing comes from.2. Second, that’s not hard to do when we understand what it is: it is the impartingof His image, nature, character to us.a. This is what it means to seal something – to stamp the image of the seal on it.(i) A king would use his signet ring to seal His image into the wax, either apicture of himself or something that represented him.(ii) The Spirit impresses an image on us.b. What is this image?(i) It’s His image, God’s image – that image revealed in Christ – what Petercalls the divine nature, which is God’s moral image.(ii) When the Spirit dwells in our souls, He works God’s nature in us, Hisrighteousness, His holiness.(a) It’s something we can see, when we begin to think, desire, act likeJesus.(b) This is further proof that the Lord has accepted us, that He loves us,that He has adopted us as His children, in a word, that we are safe.B. Let’s consider, second, why God seals us. There are two reasons.1. The first purpose of a seal is to validate a promise.a. When a king would issue a new law or decree, he would confirm it byapplying his signet ring to validate or confirm the document. We see anexample in Esther.(i) “Then the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman,the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. The king saidto Haman, ‘The silver is yours, and the people also, to do with them as youplease.’ Then the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and it was written just as Haman commanded to the king’ssatraps, to the governors who were over each province and to the princesof each people, each province according to its script, each peopleaccording to its language, being written in the name of King Ahasuerusand sealed with the king’s signet ring” (Est. 3:10-12).(ii) When King Ahasuerus gave Haman his signet ring, he was in essencegiving him the authority to carry out whatever he wanted in the king’sname, with his authority.(iii) Such a decree was irrevocable: once it was sealed, it became law; it waspermanent.(iv) That’s why when Ahasuerus wanted to save Esther, he had to empowerMordecai to issue another decree – again with his seal – that would allowthe Jews to defend themselves. “Now you write to the Jews as you see fit,in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for a decreewhich is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s signetring may not be revoked” (Est. 8:8).

3b. The seal of the Spirit is first to validate or confirm irrevocably the promise of eternal life in Christ to our souls.(i) It’s meant to assure us of the truth of God’s promise – that what He hasgiven us in Christ, He will never revoke or take back.(ii) His Spirit shows this to us, convinces our hearts of it, assures us it’s true,that it’s something we can trust the Lord will bring to completion.(iii) How does He show us?(a) Through the power of a changed life.(b) Paul writes, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirrorthe glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image fromglory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18).(c) When we see the Spirit active in our souls working Christ’s image inour lives: that is His testimony that we have eternal life.(d) As long as we can see that testimony, we can know the promisebelongs to us.(e) His image, His seal on our lives, means we have eternal life.2. The second purpose of a seal was to set someone apart.a. In the book of Revelation, we see God’s servants sealed.(i) “And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having theseal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angelsto whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, ‘Do notharm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.’ And I heard the number of thosewho were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from everytribe of the sons of Israel” (Rev. 7:2-4).(ii) These 144,000 Jews were the first-fruits of the Lord’s harvest – the firstconverts to Christianity from the Jews – that were to be kept safe during70 AD.b. In Ezekiel’s vision, we also see a sealing or marking of the foreheads of thefaithful of Jerusalem to protect them, before the Lord’s judgment went forthto destroy the unfaithful.(i) “Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub on which ithad been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the manclothed in linen at whose loins was the writing case. The LORD said tohim, ‘Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groanover all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.’ But tothe others He said in my hearing, ‘Go through the city after him and strike;do not let your eye have pity and do not spare’” (Ezek. 9:3-5).(ii) The Lord marks His people with the seal of the Spirit, to set them apart,to keep them safe in the judgment, to inherit salvation.c. From this perspective, it’s something He sees, not us.